Open Primaries

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS

OBAMA'S STRUGGLE TO BE INDEPENDENT

The Battle Adhead (By Dan Froomkin, Washington Post White House Watch) I've been arguing for a while now that establishment Washington -- complicit in so many of the irresponsible policies that President Obama is trying to reverse -- would inevitably put up resistance...

State Party Must Focus on Ending “Two-Thirds Rule” (by Paul Hogarth‚ Beyond Chron) But I didn’t join the Democratic Party just to turn more seats “blue.” At the end of the day, I want to see a working progressive majority in California that can implement laws and pass budgets that are compassionate. An “open primary” would certainly make it harder to expand a Democratic majority – but what good is a majority when the “two-thirds rule” gives the minority of right-wing Republicans free reign to hold up the state budget?

California and the Open Primary - Third Time a Charm? (Senator George Runner, Best Syndication News) Given that the U.S. Supreme Court has already overturned one attempt by California to establish a blanket primary, the question has been raised: What makes SCA 4 different enough that it will not also be overturned?

A new agenda to fix Massachusetts politics (By Rick Holmes, The MetroWest Daily News) The Open Primary initiative was put on California's ballot because a single state rep demanded it in return for his vote settling that state's budget impasse. Party officials - Republican, Democrat and third parties - hate it. But it has strong backing from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who knows as much as anyone about using referendum campaigns to leverage government reform. That's how real reform could happen in Massachusetts as well.